DEVELOPMENT OF THE THERMAL MODEL FOR KITSAT-1/2 MICROSATELLITES AND ITS VERIFICATION USING IN-ORBIT TELEMETRIES

Abstract

This study is based upon the thermal modeling, analysis and operational results of KITSAT-1 and KITSAT-2 microsatellites launched on August 11, 1992 and Septermber 26, 1993, respectively. As KITSAT-1/2 was designed to be launched as an auxiliary payload of ARIANE launcher, the constraints on volume, power consumption, and mass were required to adopt passive thermal control method controlling absorptivity, emissivity, and conductivities among adjacent modules. The main of KITSAT was to take Earth images using CCD cameras positioned at the bottom of spacecraft, in which the cameras were always pointing to the center of Earth. This study is concerned with orbital analysis, thermal modeling, simulation results, and its verification by utilizing in-orbit telemetry data of KITSAT-2. The results of telemetry analysis show that the thermal modeling is matched to actual temperature data within 10 degrees of error range in average.